Ethical Hacking, Penetration Testing & Computer Security

With the latest version of the Apple iPhone OS being released last night or this morning (depending where in the World you are) I guess most of the iPhone users amongst you would have already installed the software.

Everyone I know using an iPhone has already done it without a hitch, it’s been long awaited and it’s definitely an improved over version 2.0.

The new OS also includes patches for 46 previously unpatched security vulnerabilities in the version 2.0 OS.

Apple releases iPhone OS 3.0 to much fanfare. In addition to new features, the updated iPhone operating system brings several patches that address serious security issues in the mobile device.

Apple quietly plugged nearly four dozen security holes when it pushed out an upgrade to iPhone OS 3.0 on June 17.

With iPhone OS 3.0, users are getting fixes for several critical flaws, a number of which could be exploited by an attacker to execute arbitrary code. The WebKit and CoreGraphics components were the most vulnerable with 21 and eight vulnerabilities, respectively.

There are several serious flaws being fixed in this update, so even if you don’t need the features please update for the security.

The Apple iPhone OS 3.0 contains more than 100 new features, some of which were aimed squarely at enterprises. In March, Apple gave about 50,000 individuals who paid to be part of the company’s developer program access to both the updated SDK (software development kit) and the beta version of the operating system as part of an effort to bring more secure business functionality to the iPhone.

“Phones are small and relatively cheap, and fashionable, so many companies still don’t realize—or don’t want to acknowledge—that they can be as serious in terms of breach effects as a laptop or desktop PC,” Gartner analyst John Girard said.

I would take a wild guess though with 100 new features introduced that Apple has also introduced some security vulnerabilities.

I’d give it a week or so before some issues start to pop up with the new OS.

Companies do need to look at the security of mobile devices seriously, that’s partially why BlackBerry is so popular as it’s easy to setup secure communications and lock down the device.